Now that Christmas is behind us I can finally share some of the things I’ve been working on for the last while. I couldn’t very well share them before…I didn’t want the recipients to see what they were getting for Christmas (and one birthday) ahead of time!

My sister, Barb, has a December 1st birthday, but I sent her birthday present along with her and my niece’s Christmas presents so she got it a little late. My friend, Marg, showed me the Lexi Carryall pattern and said she was going to make one at the last retreat we were going to. I loved the pattern, thought my sister would like it, so we decided we would both work on it there together. Well, clearly her idea of “together” wasn’t the same as mine!

Marg got really involved with another project so I started working on the Lexi bag because I had prepped all my pieces ahead of time and was raring to go. I’ve worked with Lazy Girl Designs before and I’m very impressed by the clear, concise instructions and helpful photos. I was able to complete the bag itself at retreat and made and attached the carry strap when I got home. The 1” gunmetal hardware is by Sallie Tomato. Barb was really happy with her bag and she loved the turquoise lining.

The next thing I worked on was a tablerunner for Nick’s mom. I didn’t follow a pattern, but decided to design one as I went along. I knew I wanted to use traditional red and green with grey background, but I rarely ever work with Christmas fabrics. My friend, Patti, who is a Christmas fabric fanatic, was kind enough to let me go through her scraps to find what I needed. The only thing I purchased myself was the green…Patti was very generous.

I knew that I wanted to create different sized Sawtooth stars and place them at each end of the runner with a plain segment in the middle for a centre piece so no design was needed there. Two 9” stars, two 6” stars and six 3” stars were made from Patti’s scraps, filler strips of the grey background were added in between the stars to offset them and then it was quilted with straight lines 1/2” apart with Aurifil thread colour #2600. The two ends of the runner are exactly the same. I’m so pleased with how it turned out that I just might have to make another for next year!

Keeping up with the “star” theme, this Christmas I also wanted to try my hand at a new-to-me craft that I had seen online using fabric strips. Have you ever made Scandinavian Woven Stars? Well, let me tell you…I found them to be quite addictive! I followed this tutorial and also this one to learn how to make them, and even did a crafty night at guild for our December party meeting showing everyone there how to make them. Marg made a couple too and she found it easier to weave the segments together by stitching down the long edges of the strips first. My friend, Trudie, got a set of these for Christmas. I’m definitely making more for next year.

Finally, I have a thing for genealogy. Just before Covid hit I inherited my grandparents’ and my mother’s shoeboxes of family photos. In them were all the family photos from the last 100 years that nobody decided were important enough to actually organize and take care of! So, over the last couple of years I scanned and logged all the family photos into my computer and put names to any of the faces that I knew or remembered. Hard to believe, but at only 61 years old I am the second oldest person left in my family behind my first cousin who is only 67. I figured that someone should do this before there’s no one left to remember our loved ones or their stories.

Over the last year, I compiled all the photos and stories about each of these important people and put them into family history books that were Christmas gifts for my kids, Kate and Alex, my sister, Barb, and my niece, Mackenzie. It was truly a labour of love and really took me down memory lane remembering things in more detail and sharing them with others. My 88 year old mother-in-law, Marion, was a treasure trove of information about her side of the family. The books were a hit! Now I’m going to have to make one just for me and my hubby.

I hope all of you were able to spend some very important holiday time with your loved ones. Maybe you even shared some of your own family stories and maybe it’s time for you to write them down so they’re not forgotten! Happy New Year everyone. Stay safe and healthy.